Tag Archives: jeremy camp

Click to see more photos from the 2012 'Bash On Broadway' (photo: George Walker IV/The Tennessean)

Hank Williams Jr. and company are bringing hours of tunes, a fleet of fireworks and the midnight “Music Note Drop” to downtown Nashville on New Year’s Eve, but that’s just the start of the sonic celebrations taking place in Middle Tennessee Tuesday night.

Tickets are going fast — and are already gone in some cases — for many of these New Year’s Eve concerts, so if you’d like to ring in 2014 with some of Nashville’s top musical talents, you’ll probably want to reserve your spot today.

Local stars Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan are among the top nominees for the 40th annual American Music Awards. Each of the Music City singers is up for two awards at the ceremony, which takes place in Los Angeles next month.

Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are this year's leading nominees with four nods each. Christina Aguilera announced the nominations Tuesday in Los Angeles. She also said she plans to perform at the ceremony next month.

Drake, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, One Direction and Usher earned three bids apiece. Chris Brown, fun., Gotye, J. Cole, Katy Perry and Pitbull are each double nominees. Drake, Bieber, Maroon 5, Katy Perry and Rihanna are also in the running for artist of the year.

Nominees are selected based on broadcast airplay and online popularity.

Fans can vote online for their favorites in all 20 categories. The American Music Awards will be presented Nov. 18 at Nokia Theatre and broadcast live on ABC.

The social media sites are useful tools for the Christian rocker and Leiper’s Fork resident. As a musician, he’s able to let fans know where he’s performing next. As a worship leader, he can share Bible verses and other bits of inspiration. As a husband and proud father, he uploads photos of his two daughters at gymnastics class.

But Camp’s aware of the darker side of such innovations, as well. His latest album, We Cry Out: The Worship Project, is partially a reaction to the self-absorbed society that’s he’s seen emerge in recent years. In his own words, it’s a “very vertical, very directed album to the Lord.”

“I feel like we’re so distracted with (ourselves) that we’re missing out on reaching out to those around us and looking to others,” he says.

On October 8, Camp reaches out to the community with Come Celebrate Nashville, a free concert at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena. Attendees are asked to bring canned goods and winter coats to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank and Warm Coats from Warm Hearts. Though it’s a practice that’s been a staple of all his tour dates over the past year, he had yet to do it in Nashville. Camp plans to make “Come Celebrate Nashville” an annual event.Continue reading →

Update:Based on new information/counts from the Gospel Music Association, the top nominees are as follows: Producer Bernie Herms leads with eight nominations, songwriters/producers Jason Ingram and Wayne Haun following with seven each, Jars of Clay, Skillet, Matt Maher and Jason Crabb earning six nods apiece.

The crop of honorees for April’s 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards, announced Thursday morning, is led by a name that might be less familiar to fans of the contemporary Christian and gospel music the Doves honor: Producer Wayne Haun, who takes the top spot with seven nominations (including producer of the year), is known best for behind-the-scenes work.

But the names that adorn the front of the albums and T-shirts collected by Christian music fans certainly weren’t absent at Thursday’s Dove nominee press conference at Belmont University’s Curb Café. Perennial Christian rock favorites Jars of Clay, Skillet and Jason Crabb (late of the Crabb Family) followed Haun with six nominations apiece, as did worship leader and songwriter Matt Maher, who, with the success of 2009’s Alive Again album, took bigger leaps toward Christian music’s top echelon himself.

The latter singer-songwriter has a close connection to last year’s top-nominated perennial favorite, Chris Tomlin: Maher’s pen was behind well-loved song “Your Grace Is Enough,” which appeared on Tomlin’s massively successful Arriving album.

Other acts up for big awards at the upcoming GMA Dove Awards, scheduled for April 21 at the Grand Ole Opry House, include 2009’s new artist of the year Tenth Avenue North (up for group and song of the year) and longstanding success Casting Crowns (up for group and artist of the year, among others).

Tickets to the GMA Dove Awards run $25-$200, and are available now through the Opry (www.opry.com, at the Opry box office at 2804 Opryland Drive or 1-800-733-6779) or the Ryman Auditorium box office (116 5th Ave. N.).

On the fifth track of his fifth studio record, Jeremy Camp gets to say aloud what most newer artists will never get to actualize: "I Know Who I Am."

Sure, the lyrical undertones there more reflect Camp's spiritual relationships, but the idea can also be applied to his artistic output.

Camp's taut, booming vocal style is best housed within the increasingly ephemeral structure known as rock 'n' roll, specifically around the "power ballad" wing. And that's precisely where Camp and producer Brown Bannister plant themselves on Speaking. (Listen to the album after the jump.)Continue reading →